prescriptions

Google isn't out of the woods just yet over its federal violation for displaying ads from online Canadian pharmacies.

The search giant yesterday was sued in the U.S. District Court for Northern California by Patricia McKenna, a shareholder, claiming the company's financial statements between 2003 and 2009 were "misleading," according to Bloomberg, which obtained the court documents. The issue with the financial statements, the plaintiff argues, is that Google didn't include the revenue it generated from Canadian drug ads that it displayed to U.S. customers, thus not delivering the full financial picture of … Read more

As many hospitals and health care centers across the U.S. switch from paper record-keeping to newer, electronic health record systems that qualify them for federal incentives, a team of physician-scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College has been tracking the transition for 19 physicians at an adult ambulatory clinic.

Nearly 4,000 prescriptions for more than 2,000 patients were tracked before the switch, 12 weeks after the switch, and a year after the switch. Researchers found that prescription errors dropped by two-thirds, from 36 percent to 12 percent a year after their physicians had switched to electronic record-keeping systems.… Read more

You know that stern voice at the end of drug advertisements that runs through the list of possible side effects as quickly (and sometimes comically) as possible? "Possible side effects include nausea, anxiety, an erection that lasts more than four hours, and in rare cases, death."

This wide range of possibilities exists in large part because drugs and dosages have yet to be personalized, and while there are established standard reactions to those drugs and dosages, our bodies are ultimately genetically unique.

Enter the emerging realm of personalized medicine, a method that uses information about an individual to … Read more

A systematic review of 28 clinical trials, which appears today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, finds that computer reminders to physicians regarding prescriptions yield smaller improvements than expected.

The study shows that computer reminders sent to physicians during routine electronic ordering or charting improve process of care by a median of 4.2 percent, with the best outcome showing a median improvement of 5.6 percent--numbers that are "below thresholds for clinically significant improvements," writes Dr. Kaveh G. Shojania, director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Patient Safety.

The authors conclude that further research should … Read more

Here's one for the important-but-obvious files.

New research at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York finds that medical professionals writing prescriptions by hand are seven times more likely to make errors than those using electronic systems.

Researchers looked at prescriptions written by health care providers at 12 community practices in the Hudson Valley region of New York. They compared the number and severity of the found errors between 15 providers who wrote prescriptions by hand and 15 who used a commercial system that provides dosing recommendations and checks for drug allergies, duplicates, and combination effects.

The researchers inspected … Read more

Before you make another run for the Canadian border in search of cheap meds, try flashing the NeedyMeds iPhone app at your local pharmacist.

This drug-discount card promises to save you up to 75 percent on your prescriptions. It's not insurance, but rather a free program that's available to anyone.

No, really. There's no charge for the NeedyMeds app, no charge to use it, and no registration required.

Just install it on your iPhone or iPod Touch, head to the drugstore (NeedyMeds is accepted at over 50,000 pharmacies, including all major drugstore chains, according to the … Read more

Being the responsible lot that we are, Crave occasionally posts public service announcements for the benefit of our readers. So here's one for those of you who use cannabis for medicinal purposes only, of course.

The appropriately named "Volcano Vaporizer" is a device that can make your prescription up to four times more potent than the average dosage. The German-made "BMW of bongs," as Uncrate calls it, also helps purify the substance and minimize the accompanying odor. But the Volcano's $540 price tag could be prohibitive--unless you have the most liberal of health insurance.… Read more